Boutique Law Firms, Partner Issues, Small Law Firms

Law Firm Partners Need To Connect Personally With Each Other To Manage Their Firm Well Together

While private lawyers must remember that their firms are businesses (if not typical businesses), in order to run their firms well, they need to connect with one another on a personal level, and devote time to that.

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While private lawyers must remember that their firms are businesses (if not typical businesses), in order to run their firms well, they need to connect with one another on a personal level, and devote time to that.

Earlier this week, partners at my firm had one of our monthly partner breakfasts, where we discussed a range of business issues about the firm. We did not discuss any of our matters or case assignments at all, but, instead, addressed a host of human resource issues, IT concerns, and the like.

But before we got into the nitty gritty financial and other details, we simply had breakfast and caught up with one another about non-law firm, generally personal and family topics. We then comfortably turned to everything we had to, and did, accomplish in our long breakfast meeting.

While this is enjoyable, it is also good practice. The partners who run their firms must spend time connecting with each other. I’m not saying we all have to be best friends or have slumber parties where we do each other’s hair. It is healthy—indeed, necessary—for any lawyer to have a personal life independent of anything at his or her firm. And those of us who are parents need to devote a lot of energy and time outside the firm, no matter how well we get along with our colleagues or how social our firm may be.

But the partners who manage their firm would do well to spend time with one another that is not directly related to their cases or management. It allows us to unwind with one another, connect a bit more deeply, and perhaps blow off a little steam. I’ve found that when you do that (sometimes, such as at this breakfast, just before you need to discuss what are frequently thorny or stressful management issues), you’re simply in the best position to have a clear, relaxed head, and contribute the most to management discussions and decisions.

I’m not suggesting partners get loaded daily (though, at a conference I recently participated in, I did note that a criterion of a decision on firm location should be proximity to some good bars). And no amount of good food or Irish whiskey is going to (nor should) relieve partners of the need to make informed, responsible choices, together, for their law firm businesses, which remain overwhelmingly organized as partnerships. However, like the partnerships of old, when law firms generally had no more than a handful of lawyers working for them, the managing lawyers need to spend some personal time with their partners in order to do their management job well.

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John Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

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